Why does life seem to shit in the UK

[RosieLeaLovesTea]

Endless threads about schools going down the pan and poor behaviour in schools making teachers want to leave.
NHS waiting lists and quality of care medical is poor.
housing market market in crisis and affordability of housing

I read the threads and it feels like life in the UK is really shit. Plus crap weathe for 8 months of the year.

how did we get here snd what is the solution?

I think it was tax credits rather than austerity which has held down wages. Taxes are basically subsidising private companies.

Mass immigration is a problem when your infrastructure is unable to keep pace with population growth. I remember reading about Nigeria’s inability to educate it’s bulky young population. It was in the context of birth rates, the infrastructure just couldn’t meet the demands of a rapidly growing population so smart kids missed out on places in higher education. There were problems with joblessness etc. I’m going to go ahead and assume the kids who did get in came from the “right” families.

With a growing welfare bill immigration really does need to be economically useful. But how do you ensure that when the UK seems to need care workers (who clearly should be paid more) or agricultural workers.

I truly believe that the last 14 years of Tory government has made the UK more like America. Basically it's a good place to live if you're wealthy but pretty shit for everyone else. There's been a chronic underinvestment in public services, transport, town centres. Everything just looks shabby and unloved.
We're lucky to live in a nice area and we're very happy with our state school. However, I see deprivation everywhere.
There's still a lot I love about the UK but the decline in recent years is very noticeable.

I wish our Gov had tougher MPs who didn’t leap to justify any unresearched headline in the mail/ trending comment on X/ or whinge by a well known tv presenter - tell everyone you will deal with the big stuff and not every squeak and bleat by second raters. Just forge ahead - stop pandering to nonsense.

Because we live in a capitalist society. The extremely rich get richer and richer. The poor are sold the lie that they have to work hard, day in day out, just to afford to live.
People are sick and tired of working for ‘the man,’ whilst others contribute nothing.
People expect too much state intervention instead of taking responsibility for themselves.
Your children are your responsibility.
Your health is your responsibility.

Take responsibility for your own rubbish, pick it up, take it home. Clean your own house and garden.
Your child is misbehaving then sort it.
People don’t want to pay for others.
Why should someone gave to work full time until they are almost 70 when this means huge sacrifices. They cannot see their own families. Yet others don’t work and take, take, take.
Plus the weather.
I know it’s a faux pas on MN, but I love the sunshine and being able to wander about in a sundress and sandals. The cold and damp make me feel worse. Plus the every rising cost of keeping warm is depressing.

Yup other countries have their own problems, Germany is in recession for example. We really only see the headline news and not the day to day conversation of what it’s like to live in any given country. Plus if you are reasonably well off you are usually slightly insulted wherever you live.

I imagine if you live in a lovely area of France with a nice little village and a good school you will think France is pleasant. If you live in a banlieue you may think France is a dump.

If it’s so bad why do people risk their lives every day to get here even when they are leaving “safe” countries in Europe? Life is sometimes what you make it.

It depends what you need to feel good.

I was made redundant in August 🙄but on the other hand I've just been signed off from cancer treatment. I've managed to find another job, which means I'll be able to afford Christmas.
The trees are changing colour, and this morning I saw a skein of geese. The seasons are changing. I love autumn.

So to me, life is actually quite good.

You could try looking around you for the good bits. There's always something.

I wasn't referring to that.

They're sold a lie by traffickers?
They think we all live like rich folk?
They have a different idea of luxury?

I do think though sometimes it’s the people themselves. You can have one street where people have kept things tidy are on good terms with their neighbours etc and another one with exactly the same houses where people have left shit all over the streets and are anti-social.

I think we have shifted more and more responsibility from individuals to the state and it’s been to the detriment of society as a whole. You see this with reception intake, COVID was a while ago yet teachers are still talking about children turning up in nappies, not able to do basic things.

kindredsquared.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Kindred-Squared-School-Readiness-Report-February-2024.pdf

If it’s that shit, you can leave. Presuming you don’t speak any languages other than English, there’s still e.g. the US, Australia, NZ, Canada, Bermuda, Belize, South Africa.

Oh, those countries require you to have qualifications, professional experience and skills people want to pay money for and you don’t have any of those things? Well, that’s probably why your life is shit in the U.K. and in reality would be just as shit anywhere else.

I think it’s just mumsnet, people come on here to write about shit things that are happening, not good. No one discusses these things in real life, most people around me seem very happy with their life. My advice - get off mumsnet!

It’s also overcrowded.

Where I live public transport is dire.
So everyone drives. The roads are a nightmare.
More houses being built, people objecting. More cars on the road adding to the total chaos.
No more schools, hospitals, doctors, public transport to accommodate all the extra overcrowding. It isn’t good for anyone.
Every month roads closed or backed up due to road works which are due to the dire state of the roads, caused by too many cars and attics. Yet more and more planning permission granted. The roads cannot cope.

Exactly. Can't believe people think mass immigration is the cause of all our problems. Immigrants are net contributors to the economy (Google) if you don't believe me and propping up the country in many respects.

Yes, but I'd ask why certain people couldn't care less. Why is it that those with good jobs and more money take more pride in their neighbourhoods than those with very little? I can think of several reasons.

That's harsh. Those countries require you to have specific skills of which there is a shortage in the country. They won't be interested in you if you are, say, a shop worker or an office administrator or a call centre worker or a cleaner.

Yet, someone has to do those jobs - are we saying that, if you have a job that's (rightly or wrongly) perceived as low skill, you should just accept that your life is doomed to be shit wherever you live?

Because that's not acceptable - people who are working hard in their jobs should be allowed to expect a decent standard of living - not a celebrity lifestyle, but the ability to put their heating on in winter, put healthy food on the table, and have the occasional treat and a holiday once a year. Access to decent housing, healthcare, schools, a dentist. That shouldn't be too much to ask.

People do in my life. 🤷‍♀️

Noise, overcrowding.

No one shows any consideration to anyone, be it on public transport, on the road, in a hospital, in the park. People don’t even queue for the bus anymore.

Rubbish everywhere.

It's alright everywhere if you have enough money, ask poor people in Germany or the US.

No, it's not just MN.
Lots of folk have pretty shit lives in the UK just now.

UK productivity has been flat since 2003. It is similar in France and Germany.

In 2003 the average worker in the UK was 16.7% worse of than an American worker. Today an average UK worker is 66% worse off than an average American worker.

Australian and Canadian workers have gone from being poorer than their UK counterparts in 2003 to richer.

Throw in the fact that energy bills in the UK are 3 times more expensive than the USA (because our approach to Net Zero is very expensive) and the Americans have lower house prices it looks a bit shit in the UK.

On the plus side we provide an unemployment support package for people on benefits in the UK more in nominal terms than the salaries of doctors in most of Africa and India. So still comparatively wealthy!

Great post - quite agree.

It puts life into perspective.

There are far worse places to live.

I don't know why people are being disparaging about mass immigration and making the usual boring shutdowns like 'Stop reading the Daily Mail.'

Mass immigration is well-documented and is changing British society. My own area is visibly changing in a very short time.

Maybe it’s the other way round? Perhaps people who are conscientious in the first place are the ones with the good jobs, are able to get to work on time and make an effort.

What do you think life is like for a checkout worker or a cleaner in, say, Canada, Portugal, the Emirates, Japan or Austria? Do you think they feel they live in veritable utopias with the world at their feet? Life is pretty crap everywhere if you don’t have much money and no specialist skills to offer, there are no magical utopias.